Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.
Acting
Alastair Sim's manic-depressive Scrooge remains unmatched.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched Victorian London that breathes coal and regret.
Score
Dramatic orchestral swells that refuse subtlety.
Director
Brian Desmond Hurst
Alastair Sim
Ebenezer Scrooge
Mervyn Johns
Bob Cratchit
Glyn Dearman
Tiny Tim Cratchit
George Cole
Young Ebenezer Scrooge
Brian Worth
Fred Scrooge
Michael Hordern
Jacob Marley
Kathleen Harrison
Mrs. Dilber
Rona Anderson
Alice
Jack Warner
Jorkins
Francis de Wolff
Spirit of Christmas Present
Carol Marsh
Fan Scrooge
Hermione Baddeley
Mrs. Cratchit
Miles Malleson
Old Joe
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Alastair Sim reprised the role in a 1971 animated short, making him the only actor to play Scrooge in both live-action and animation.
This version invented backstory elements—Fan's death, young Scrooge's romance with Belle—that nearly every adaptation since has copied.
GB
